7 Days of Pain

By Marland May and FirstEditing.com

7 days of pain is a biblical principle that I discovered through an intensely difficult time in my life. I gravitated toward the stories of David and Job because, in a week, they both seemed to have endured the impossible and were healed through it. I wanted desperately to recover and move past the dark years. I had to ask myself extremely difficult questions in order to heal. Why did this happen to me? What is it going to take for me to be free? Is God torturing me? Why won't He make it stop? David's suffering was brought about by his pride, much like my own. God had to work hard in breaking him down because his pride had crept into every corner of his being. Job took comfort in his unblemished relationship with God, much like I did. He questioned God's judicial right to cause him this pain. All he wanted was for God to explain Himself, just like we do.

There are two types of spiritual pain: self-inflicted, brought about by our own mistakes and growing pains brought about by God. We can examine the biblical stories of King David and Job as models for reacting to suffering. I want this to be as much of a sensory experience as possible. I want you to connect with the Bible characters and get lost in their stories. I want you to be able to overlay their stories with your experiences and find common ground. As you read through this book, you'll notice an uplifting song is linked with each chapter. If you are struggling right now, take the time to listen to each song as your read through each chapter. Read the lyrics to the song and play them at least twice before moving on. Allow the Spirit of God to seep in and scrub away what doesn't belong.

The objective isn't for you to be pain free at the end of this book, although I believe God can do that. The intent is to peel you off the ground and get you up onto your knees in seven days. My pain was still present, but I could feel the warmth of the sun at the end of my tunnel. I would love to hear how God has brought you through your dark shadows.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBookIt.com
• Release date: Apr 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781456605704

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The Blackout

Song of the day: Unredeemed by Selah

Objective:   Ask questions

Verse of the day: Why has my pain become unending, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You truly have become like a mirage to me - water that is not reliable. (Jeremiah 15:18, HCSB)

My life wasn’t perfect, but I was handling it. I was fighting for happiness - for my own reality. The referee brings us in close and explains the rules of the fight. It’s going to be a dirty fight, he says. I expect cheap shots and hits below the belt. He grins at my opponent. I extend my glove and lean forward. My right eye walks right into his fist.

It’s a fight! chuckles the referee. I can feel that my eye is swelling, but I’m no quitter. I charge forward with my gloves up. His blows are intense and knock me off my feet frequently. I gaze out across the endless warehouse of boxing rings. Each one of us is fighting the same person. My friends and family can glance over at my ring in-between their own rounds. Some aren’t yet fighting or have already won their own fight and stopped by before their next one to cheer me on.

We’re fighting hell and all of its forces, and they don’t fight fair. The pain is unbearable. I double over and collapse. Ding. Saved by the bell. I crawl to my corner and call for the paramedics. I know now why they call the Christian life a fight. You do whatever you can to make the pain stop. It feels like every bone is broken. A simple twitch sends electric shocks of pain everywhere. They put me on a gurney and rush me off toward the exit.

The champion was too busy celebrating, I guess, and didn’t see me escape. His eyes caught mine, though, and the chase was on. I jumped off the gurney and hobbled toward the stairs, but he was already waiting for me. I tried to be resilient, but it was no use. My heart hurt. He threw me against the wall and gut-checked me. His fist went so deep his knuckles massaged my lungs. I could feel his fingers wrap around my head and dig into my skull. I fought. I did! With immense strength he flung me down several flights of stairs. My arms broke against the railing and my legs did also once I landed on the platform. He wasn’t satisfied with broken limbs. He wanted to shatter them and make sure I could never walk again. I cried for death, but that would have been the easy way out. No, he wanted everyone to see how helpless I would be after an encounter with demons of suffering.

Blackouts from the pain were frequent. This time when I came to it was a different fighter that crawled on top of me, -depression. My heart, though bruised, resisted defeat and would be defiant until the end. In order to break me, the enemy would have to break it. I could feel this new hand against my chest and what felt like a dull spoon carving away my flesh. The pain was excruciating. I couldn’t scream because I was already gasping for each breath from the immense pressure against my lungs.

I could hear a door open and someone called my name. I wanted to answer, but a hand quickly grabbed my tongue. The paramedics were looking for me. Were they too late? The only thing left to do was to break the rib cage protecting my heart. They pounded hard, hoping that by sheer force it would snap. The noise alerted the paramedics to my location. I could hear a skirmish, but it was over very quickly, and I was fading fast. I had lost so much of everything. I was beyond critical and wouldn’t last the ambulance ride, so they scurried me off to a nearby basement. I felt a soothing hand touch my forehead, which was one of the last places I still had feeling. That touch was healing amidst the hurting. Then I blacked out.

The Thought

At the beginning, you felt like your heart was put in a blender, but it was too big to puree so you had to cut it into small pieces and blend it again. You lost the fight and now you’re hurting and in pain. While you’re still learning to cope with that, drama rushes in to crush you. Before you’ve comprehended what just happened, you’re kicked off a cliff and hit every possible jagged rock all the way to the bottom.

I thought for a long time that the biblical prophets couldn’t understand how I felt. I’ve been a pastor for so many years, but their stories remained just stories. Take Jeremiah - a preacher ever since he was a kid. God communed with him about what his sermons were going to be about. He was a super Christian. He says, Why has my pain become unbearable and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?"

What I’ve learned is this isn’t a book to be read, but stories of lives to be listened to. I was set apart to be in ministry even before I knew what I wanted. Then, when I accepted, traditional avenues of ministry closed their doors and no one wanted to listen. I was engaged to a woman and felt trapped. Almost five years later devastation happened. Love turned to betrayal. Work became a sanctuary of sorts and, within a couple of weeks, my sanctuary turned into a sanitarium. Then my eyes were opened to how my pain affects those that I love. Devastating anger.

Why has my pain become unending; my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?( Jeremiah 15:18) ¹

Jeremiah is so stricken by the reality that his warnings are going unheeded. Famine and death are literally around every corner, and the people are blaming him for bringing news of destruction. He’s pleading with God for protection. Frustrated from his agony he says, "You’re nothing,

God

, but a mirage, a lovely oasis in the distance—and then nothing!"² Misery loves company, and our rationale gets altered by our circumstances. We try to lash out against God, intentionally trying to hurt Him so He’ll help us. We try to guilt God into wanting to help us.

Know that others have walked before you and have felt exactly the way that you do now. Men and women who